Birds Fitted With Suicide Vests are the New IED

The Taliban reportedly has a new weapon in its arsenal: remotely detonated birds. No, seriously: think birds wearing suicide vests. Why not just load explosives into a coconut and deliver them by swallow already?

US News service NBC reports that police in the restive Faryab province in northern Afghanistan made a surprising discovery on Saturday morning: a large white bird (reportedly about the size of an eagle, though maybe closer to that of a pheasant based on the video below) walking along the roadway, sporting a long antenna protruding from a mass of explosives and electronics strapped to its belly. Unwilling to take the chance that it might be an aviary suicide bomber, officers shot the animal from a safe distance, which then exploded, though there is no word on whether the bomb detonated from the gunfire or was indeed remotely activated.

The police are still investigating the incident and will attempt to examine the device once they finish collecting and reassembling the pieces. "We are gathering all the stuff, but found parts of what looks to be GPS and a small camera," Gen. Abdul Nabi Ilham told NBC News. The bird, unfortunately, could not be reassembled and remains quite dead. [NBC]